Whiffletree attachment.



'J. UNGER. WHIFFLETREE ATTACHMENT. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 26, 1907. RENEWED 1'23. 28, 1908.

899,923, Patented Sept. 29, 1908.

UNITED srnrns PATENT orrron.

JonN NeER, oF'LoUIsvILLE, COLORADO.

No. 899,923. I

Specification of Letters latent.

HI FLETRE Arraonivrnnr.

Patented Sept. 29, 1908.

Application filed March 2c, 1907', sen-a No. 364,690. Renewed February as, 1998. Serial No. 418,290.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, J OHNUNGEVR, a citizen of the'United States, residing at Louisville, in the county ofBoulder and State of Colorado, have invented new and useful Im-' provements in Whiffletree Attachments, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to hooksorattachments for whiflietrees' for the-purpose of retaining the tugs or traces in position thereon with no danger of displacement by the jolt' ing or vibratory movement ofthe Whitfietree when in use; and it has for its objectto provide a spring actuated whifl'letree hook of simple and improved construction which may be readily applied in position for .operation, Which shall be safe and effective-in operation, and which may be manufactured at a minimum expense.

With these and other endsin view which will readily appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists in the improved construction and novel arrangement and assemblage of parts which will be hereinafter fully described andparticularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings has been illustrated a simple and preferred form of the invention; it being, however, understood that no'limitation is necessarily made to the precise structural details therein exhibited, but that changes, alterations and-- modifications within the scope of the invention may be resorted to when desired.

In the drawing, Figure 1 is a top plan view showing the end ofa whiflietree having the improved attachment applied thereto in position for operation. Fig. 2'is a rear elevation'of the same. Fig. 3 is arear elevation showing the whiflietree hook raised. Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on the plane. indicated by the line 44 in Fig. 3. Fig.5 is a detail view of the whiffletree hook. Fig. 6 is a detail view of the bearing plate.

Corresponding arts in the several figures are denoted by li e characters of reference."

The improved whiiiletree attachment comprises. a hook A and a bearing plate B.

The hook A ispreferably formed, by bending, of stout spring wire, a piece of which a suitable length is bent or doubled upon itself to form the side members 11 that constitute the shank of the'hook; the terminal portion of the wire being subsequently bent to form the hook member 2 the free end 8 of which projects through or beyondi'the plane l I of the extended shank formed by the side The-terminal ends of the members 1-1. side members 11 are bent laterally in o posite directions to form arms 4-4 and t e extremities of said arms are bent upward or outward in the direction of the terminal hook 2 to form shoulders or offsets 88.

The bearing plate B consists ofa piece of spring steel or other metal having longitudinal parallel incisions 66 whereby spring tongues77 are formed at the edges of said plate, said spring tongues being bent or corrugated near their free extremities to form recessesor pockets 5 in the undersides there- In the end of the plate B, intermediate the incisions 6, there is formed a notch 9, and the tongues or strips of metal between said notch and the incisions 6 are bent back upon themselves to form eyes 10 wherein the arms 4 of the hook member A are pivotally mounted the terminal shoulders or offsets 5 of said arms being extended beneath the spring tongues 7 and accommodated in the pockets or recesses 5 in the undersides of the latter. The im roved attachment may be applied to a whietree O of ordinary construction, being secured in place by suitable fastening members as'shown at 11, in such a osition that the free end 3 of the hook mem er will extend through the aperture 12 near the end of the whiflietree.

.The operation and advantages of this invention will be readily understood from the foregoing description taken in connection with the drawings hereto annexed. When engage the terminal shoulders or oflsets 8 of the pivotal arms 4 the hook member may be readily raised to disengage the free end 3 from the eye 12 for the purpose of adjusting or removing the trace, but when released it will spring back, under the tension of the springs 7 to the normal or locked position indicated in Figs. 1 and 2. If desired, the hook member A may, however, be raised to the osition indicated in Fi 3, When the shou ders or offsets 5 are on t e dead center, or past said position in the direction of the arrow, when it Will be retained in non-engaging position as regards the eye 12 by the action-of the spring tongues 7. i

This improved device, as will be seen, is extremely simple in construction and operation, and it may be manufactured at a very trifling expense.

Having thus fully described the invention, what I claim as new is 1. A whifiletree attachment comprising a hook member and a bearing plate, said hook member having a doubled portion constituting a hook and a shank and laterally extended arms formed with terminal shoulders or offsets, and said bearing plate being provided with longitudinal incisions, an intermediate notch, bent portions forming spring tongues at the edges of said plate and intermediate eyes wherein the arms of the hook member are pivoted.

2. An article of the class described comprising a bearing plate having spaced eyes and resilient tongues adjacent to said eyes 

